China will remain US strategic rival after pandemic – Pompeo

Despite the agreements reached in the trade negotiations between the United States and China, as well as the agreement of both countries to jointly fight the challenges of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, official Washington continues to see China as a strategic rival.

This is how the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo appreciated the nature of the confrontation at the present stage between the two largest economies in the world.

“With regard to China, there are huge challenges – in those places where, according to President Trump, there is no reciprocity,” said the head of the US foreign department.

He clarified that we are talking about the sphere of trade, about the behavior of the Chinese authorities with journalists and freedom of information. Although, according to Pompeo, the United States will continue to find opportunities to work with the Chinese side, including in the second part of the trade deal.

“So, in the future, China will remain the same as we previously determined in the administration, the real strategic rival of the United States. I do not expect this to change, but we learned certain lessons,” Pompeo emphasized.

It was reported that relations between the US and China escalated during the presidency of Donald Trump, who accused Beijing of unfair competition, theft of intellectual property, aggressive actions and established customs barriers for Chinese products. This caused a backlash, which was later called the beginning of the “trade war.” The dispute was resolved by concluding the “first phase” of a trade transaction between the two countries.

At the same time, after the announcement of the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19, Beijing began to unreasonably accuse the United States of artificially spreading the disease through China. In the USA they called it conspiracy theories of conspiracy. Following a conversation between US and PRC leaders last week, the parties announced that they would work together to counter the challenges of a global pandemic.